Four Kicks

I bring before you a serious issue.



What is with the romantic rift between the fashion world and the bootcut jean? It's not as if they don't exist any more, when you walk back in to school next week, I would bet that roughly half the female population would be dressed in them (the other half, of course, in skinnies). But if you've also picked up a fashion magazine in the past few years, you might think they've become extinct, because they're not at all acknowledged in editorials or even advertisements? There is often a fairly wide rift between what's going on in fashion and what the average girl wears, but why does fashion have to snub the bootcut jean so roundly?

I guarantee you that if [insert wildly popular blogger here] were to post a much-lauded outfit polished off with your standard, Target-bought pair of bootcut or "flares", the same outfit would be dismissed as pedestrian rather than praised. Up until about a year ago, the only "fashion" choice for pants was the ubiquitous skinny jean---



It's not as if I have a problem with skinny jeans. I think they look fantastic....on other people. But for me personally, I think they make my petite frame look even shorter, my curves look like one too many sandwiches. And aside from that, they tend to be slightly binding and uncomfortable. And I see many a girl who's body type would be so much better served by something with a non-tapered leg persist in wearing them because they're de rigeur.



Then, sometime around last year (depending on who you ask of course), came the advent of the boyfriend jean. While it is infinitely more flattering than the skinny jean, it also requires its own form of work. Because of the loose, hip-slung fit of the boyfriend, you can't pair it with just anything. The wrong blouse and you'll look rectangular, and all but the tallest of girls look slovenly in boyfriend jeans without pairing them with heels. While I own a pair of boyfriend jeans, and love them for their slacked comfort, I feel somewhat awkward wearing them as I rarely wear anything with a heel.

So what is a bootcut wearing girl to do but place herself at odds with her beloved fashion (or permanently resign herself to skirts)? You'll notice that on the occasion I post my own outfits, I usually stick to dresses, and there is a reason for that. While I hope boyfriends, in their forgiving masculinity I'm such a sucker for, stick around for a while, I would like to declare a fashion moritorium on the skinny. They've had their time in the sun, it's time fashion and bootcut pants kiss and make up.